By Pat Culverhouse
Minden police investigators have slammed the lid on a nearly three-year effort to eliminate one gang’s criminal enterprise with the April Fool’s Day arrest of a 26-year-old former Minden resident.
Chief of Police Jared McIver said Damion Coleman, whose last known local address was in the 1000 block of Pine St., was taken into custody by his detectives after he was arrested by Louisiana State Police troopers during a traffic stop.
“Lt. Kenny James saw Coleman’s name when the state police searched for outstanding warrants after he was pulled over,” McIver said. “Now we have him on our warrant and the state also has charges against him.”
Coleman is charged by Minden authorities with criminal street gangs/patterns of criminal street gang activity. He is also looking at charges from the Louisiana State Police for for possession of a firearm/carrying of a concealed weapon by a convicted felon, illegal possession of a stolen firearm and fugitive from Tarrant County, TX.
He currently is being held in Bayou Dorcheat Correctional Center under a total bond of $100,000.
Coleman is the last remaining member of the street gang TTS (Trained To Step) to be arrested in connection with illegal activities that operated in Minden and the surrounding area.
“He is the twenty-sixth and the last of the TTS member to be brought down,” said Narcotics Division Detective Lt. Shane Griffith. “About half of them have already been convicted, and their average prison sentence has been eight to ten years.”
Griffith said court cases against these gang members have been handled by a special prosecutor appointed by District Attorney Schuyler Marvin of the 26th Judicial District.
“We appreciate the DA’s decision to appoint the special prosecutor. It made it easier to work with one assistant district attorney and to connect each defendant to the ongoing enterprise,” he said.
Griffith said James worked many man hours to make an ongoing criminal activity case against TTS gang members.
“Lt. James did a great job of following the trail of this gang’s activities and tying it into a package that showed a continuing criminal enterprise,” he said. “He did so well that other agencies have reached out to him for his advice and assistance.”
Although the final arrest was a long time coming, Griffith said investigators never stopped developing information and following leads.
“We often have to be more patient than we’d like to be, but Chief McIver wants to make it hard for gangs to operate and he supports us fully no matter how long it takes or how far we have to take it,” he said.
“We’ve noticed that a lot of gang members have left Minden and gone to other places, but they will occasionally come back around here. If they do, we’ll do everything we can to make their visit very unpleasant.”
This information has been provided by a law enforcement agency as public information. Persons named as suspects in a criminal investigation, or arrested and charged with a crime, have not been convicted of any criminal offense and are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.